Just wanted to show guys in suits with large displays to prove that I was there.

I had a chance to attend the Tableau 8.2 Roadshow today at The Westin New York at Times Square. Even in the sub-releases of tableau there is always something interesting. As I’ve learned in working with it recently, it is easy to make a case study about how much time Tableau saves you in an on-going production environment. However, the learning curve is big as I try to ramp up on it.

Some of the features that they were presenting were: Easier Data Connections, Mapping Changes, Visual Data Window, Story Points, Tableau for Mac.

Overall the Story Points feature is by far the biggest bang for Release 8, so seeing demos and getting some best practice tips are a benefit. Right now it’s still a much talked about benefit, but we have not been able to easily integrate across our users.

Personally, the Mac demo hit home directly, since I do all my outside work on a Mac so this would make life easier, but the coolest was the mapping updates. Along with the new, more detailed maps, I sat in a break-out presentation where they showed how to connect our data maps to outside map feeds, like weather information, that could overlay our maps. This is one of those situations about ramp-up time, since we were looking at a new pitch for a sunglasses company and figured that it would be great to show results or make predictions based on the weather, assuming that more sunglasses are sold around sunny days, but learning how to make it useful will have to wait to a rainy day (see what I did there) where a deadline is not looming and we have some time to learn.

It’s well after midnight, and I’m on a quiet bus driving across western New Jersey.

Why? I had a chance to attend two tech conferences today in NYC. In the afternoon it was the ClickZ Conference which focuses on the search industry, mostly on SEO tools and SEM advertising. Back when I last attended the show, it was known as Search Engine Strategies and it covered 3 expo floors at the NY Hilton. This event, held at the Marriot Marquis in Times Square, covered 3 ROWS! I know it’s not because the business is not generating the same revenues, but there certainly has been a pull back.

Later, I caught the subway to NYU for the monthly NY Tech Meet-up. It’s been almost 5 years since I attended my first NYT Meetup — which I was also a presenter for Hakia. It’s bigger than ever and there is always a sense of excitement since you never know if the demo that you are seeing could be the next big thing. In the past, I’ve seen the first demos from Foursquare and MakerBot and each time you sensed that you just saw something that was going to be big. But note that they’re not all that special — you can call Zack Morris at (718) 395-5255. You can watch the rest of the April event here.

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After years and years of cheering on our Techers, we finally have some hardware. Clarkson stopped Minnesota’s attempt to capture their 3rd straight championship, beating the Gophers 5-4 yesterday in Hamden,CT.

We think this was sometime around 2000 on a visit home from Boston. I could count on a full sheet waiting for me.

It’s been a long week since my mother passed away early Monday morning. It’s hard to think about a bright side, but I know that she is in a far better place than she has been over the last few months, and so many people have opened their hearts to my family and shared stories about the kind things Ang had done for them.

I never realized how many people use these online obituary tools to, but I sat down today and read through them all.

If you’re not a NY Mets fan, Ralph Kiner’s passing may not be as big a part of your childhood as it is to those of us that grew up in the WOR-9 area. For those of us that waited every night for Kiner’s Korner following the night’s broadcast this is a great loss.

For baseball fans, Kiner’s place in history is overlooked as current day numbers pile up. When Kiner retired in 1955 after just 10 seasons. He was #6 in career HRs. Check out the Top 6 list at the time:
1. Babe Ruth (714)
2. Jimmie Foxx (534)
3. Mel Ott (511)
4. Lou Gehrig (493)
5. Ted Williams (394)
6. Ralph Kiner (369)
He led the NL in HRs in each of his first 7 seasons in the majors. No rookie has ever led his league since 1905, and Kiner did it his first 7 years.

The event targets recent and upcoming graduates, but it is open to the public. Thanks to my membership with Sports Networker and the fact that we had planned a trip to visit family this weekend on Cape Cod, I was able to attend.

I went there to learn and get some insights from true insiders, but it was also great to cross paths with people that I have worked with in the past, including: Rich Gotham – President of the Celtics; Jimmy Lynn, currently teaching and consulting in DC, and Tom Richardson – Founder/CEO of Talent League.

We had an opportunity to make our first family visit to the Carrier Dome this weekend to see SU play Wake Forrest.

I was looking to make this trip for the last two season’s, but it’s difficult to plan ahead when your window is for early afternoon starts and game times aren’t announced until a week before.

Thanks to a fortunate lunch outing earlier in the week where I ran into Angela and Sonny Spera, friends going way back and SU grads, we were able to join their group and see the game. It all worked out very well; it also happened to be Family Day so we were also able to enjoy the SU Marching Band and bouncy houses on The Quad.

Also, it’s still difficult to see where SU is going to fit into the ACC, but on this day the Orange gave us an impressive 13-0 win.

Today was my first day at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open where I volunteer each year in the media room — and sometimes I see golf. Since today was Pro-Am day, I looked down the list of amateurs to see if I knew anyone playing in case I go for a walk.

About half way down the list, I see “Tony Kornheiser.” Mr. Tony is in Endicott and I don’t know this? This is the same town that advertised a Roy White appearance for a month. Can’t be Tony from PTI.

His playing partner: Harvey Stenger. The President at Binghamton University. I guess that was Mr. Tony.

If you follow this blog, you may remember how I had my letter read on Tony’s show, and the premise of that note was that they would send me a “TK” sticker that I would then pass along to President Stenger.

So I ran out and found them on the 5th hole. After they finished the hole, I introduced myself and told them the story. Now I have President Stenger AND Tony, but the sticker was at home. They were both very nice and laughed at how this worked out.

The best line: I told Tony I don’t have know what to do between 10 am – noon since I can’t listen while he’s off for the summer. His response: “Now I’m here in person.”